Background
Petrov was born in Moscow, the son of the cellist Arnold Ferkelman and the grandson of the operatic bass Vasily Rodionovich Petrov, and began learning the piano at the age of three.
music educator pianist university professor
Petrov was born in Moscow, the son of the cellist Arnold Ferkelman and the grandson of the operatic bass Vasily Rodionovich Petrov, and began learning the piano at the age of three.
At the Central Music School of the Moscow Conservatory his teacher was Tatyana Kestner and in 1961 Petrov entered the class of Yakov Zak at the Conservatory itself.
Petrov gave regular performances in the Great Hall of the Moscow Conservatory as well as touring widely and appearing at major world venues such as Carnegie Hall, the Concertgebouw, the Royal Festival Hall (London) and the Teatro Colón. Petrov"s large repertoire included more than fifty concertos and he worked with many prominent conductors, including Mariss Jansons, Kirill Kondrashin, Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Yevgeny Svetlanov and Yuri Temirkanov. In 1998, he founded the Nikolai Petrov International Philanthropic Foundation.
He served on the jury at the 2007 International Tchaikovsky Piano Competition.
Nikolay Petrov died in August 2011, aged 68. In a telegram to his family, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev stated: “An outstanding musician, teacher and public figure has left us.
He lovingly preserved the traditions of Russia’s performance school and nurtured young talent on its professional road. His colleagues appreciated his great enthusiasm and creative energy.
Nikolai Petrov gave us an example of worthy service to the arts and was open and always well disposed towards all around him.
He has left us, but his rich legacy and the good memory of this exceptional man remain with us.”.